Why We Said NO to Sochi

As many of you may know, Performance Research founders Jed Pearsall and Bill Doyle have been consistently attending & analyzing the on-site activities at Olympic Games for over 30 years. In fact, Jed’s first Olympic event was “Miracle on Ice”- the legendary USA vs. USSR hockey game held during the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Winter Games, where Jed’s Mom bought the tickets from a sidewalk scalper for just $25 each.

Since Lake Placid, Jed has attended 13 out of the last 15 Olympic Games (Winter & Summer), with Doyle attending eight of his own. This bi-annual pilgrimage has been a mix of business and inspiration, allowing us to provide observations and insights to sponsors worldwide, while also being reminded of how lucky we are to work in such a fascinating industry.

While we are disappointed to not attend the Games, we are proud of our integrity that drove the decision. And, we will always question the rationale of the IOC (especially when we could have been headed to competing bid city Salzburg, Austria right now instead of staying away from Sochi). So for this Olympic Winter Games, for the first time in nearly three decades, you will be reading Performance Research updates (now tweets) written from the viewpoint of our couch instead of from the bleachers.

2 responses to “Why We Said NO to Sochi”

Media coverage of the Sochi Olympics has brought to light some unsavory activities and ideologies. I admire our American contingent including gay members in spite of Putin’s Russian anti-gay babbling.
Bringing to public notice the euthanizing of stray dogs is yet another horrid activity that may have been stopped or at least decreased just because we are there. This may even lead to Russian citizens helping to find a better way to deal with this problem.
All sides considered, I think it’s better that everyone IS there. If I had the chance I wouldn’t pass it up.